The instant invention relates to a feeding system for an inserting machine, and more particularly to such a system which feeds the documents to be inserted on edge.
Current inserting systems feed and collect a plurality of documents and then register the collation prior to the collation being inserted into an envelope. The documents generally are handled in a horizontal or substantially horizontal plane, which means that there is only one registration edge available, i.e. the lead edge of the document. In an effort to gain a second registration edge, systems have been utilized which process documents on edge, so that there are two registration edges, i.e. the lead edge and the bottom edge. However, current inserting systems which process documents on edge require that the collation, as it is being is processed and built up to its final total, be indexed, i.e. stopped, at the various feeding hoppers in order to collect the documents to be added to the collation from each of the various feeding hoppers. Obviously, such indexing slows down the collating and inserting process.
The instant invention thus overcomes the disadvantage associated with indexing the advancing, on-edge collation and provides a method and apparatus for assembling a collation on edge without ever having to index, i.e. stop, the documents once they have become part of the advancing collation.